What's Your Problem?

After mist of white paint lands on SUV, man tagged with repair bill

The hooligans who tagged the viaduct near West 40th and Halsted streets left Bill Keating's new Jeep Grand Cherokee untouched.

It was city workers who caused the damage.

Keating had parked in his company's lot, which abuts the viaduct, when a graffiti-blasting crew painted over the hooligans' handiwork in March 2008. Spray from the crew's paint guns covered Keating's Jeep with a mist of white paint.

He obtained a police report and two repair estimates, one for $1,910, the other $2,000. He submitted his claim to the city in May 2008.

It took the city more than nine months to investigate the claim before calling him with a settlement offer in March, just eight days before the one-year statute of limitations kicked in. Saying the paint could be removed with a good power washing, the city offered him $150.

Keating declined.

"Why did I go through the hassle if they're just going to say, 'You know what? We'll give you $150'?" Keating said. "They seem to think that they don't have to pay retribution for any damages they have caused."

Keating said that since March, he has called the city repeatedly to plead his case, hoping the city would up its offer. When no one returned his calls, he e-mailed What's Your Problem?

He called the city's offer a joke. He said both body shops told him it would take them hours to buff out the paint, including laborious detail work on the rack that sits atop the Jeep.

"That's not a $150 job," he said. "Back in 1965, maybe. But we're in 2009."

The Problem Solver called Jennifer Hoyle, spokeswoman for the city's Law Department.

Hoyle said the $150 was the city's final offer. Because he declined that offer and the statute of limitations has since passed, Keating is entitled to nothing.

"We made the offer of settlement. We explained our reasoning," Hoyle said. "We believe the paint could have been cleaned up or removed."

Hoyle conceded the city's investigation took longer than usual, but said Keating was told upfront that there was a one-year statute of limitations. She said the paint used by the Bureau of Graffiti is water-soluble, and Keating should have at least attempted to remove it with a power wash.

"The amount of money he claimed seemed excessive for the damage that occurred," Hoyle said. "We are trying to make people whole but at the least cost to taxpayers."

Keating, who still hasn't removed the white paint from his Jeep, said he's still miffed it took so long for the city to investigate his claim. And he's still unhappy with the city's offer.

"They stalled and stalled and stalled," he said. "It was a brand-new vehicle. All I wanted was (for) it to be restored to where it was when I got it."

He called the process "maddening."

"The rules aren't made for the little guy," he said. "They're made for the city and whoever's got the most clout, the most money and the most connections."

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